Chapter Two: Freedom
Soll took a deep breath, slowly taking in his surroundings. There wasn't much to the room that was to be their safe haven from the dragon outside, only a table and a single chair. In the middle of the room was a fallen Stormcloak. Ralof tended to the dead as Soll investigated a way out.
There were two hallways out of the room, but one was stuck behind a gate that could only be opened on the other side. On the opposite side of the room, there was a locked door they had no key for. In other words, they were truly stuck.
It was at that moment that they could hear the captain of the Legion yelling orders at least one other soldier, coming from the other side of the gate. Ralof and Soll shared a look, and the two hid by the walls next to the gate. Ralof held up his axe as Soll drew his sword from its sheath.
"Get this gate open," ordered the captain. The gate came down, and at that moment, Soll and Ralof flew into battle.
Taken by surprise, the soldier was easily killed, but the captain managed to draw her blade, blocking a swing of Ralof's axe. Soll swung, which didn't connect, but it did distract the captain long enough for Ralof to swing. His axe connected, but her armor did a fine job of protecting her.
"Imperial steel is unmatched, rebel scum," taunted the captain, who attacked, only to find air as the far more light Ralof had stepped out of danger.
"You Imperials think your clunky armor is best," Ralof said as Soll hit the captain in the head. While her helmet did protect her from the damage, it came flying off from the impact. "But you can hardly fight with it," he finished as his axe connected with her head, killing her.
"Damn good fighting, Soll. Where'd you learn to swing a blade?" Ralof asked as he searched through the bodies of the Imperials.
"My mom served in the Great War, even fought to reclaim the Imperial City. She taught me everything I know," Soll said, earning a nod of respect from Ralof.
"Here," Ralof said, picking a key up from the beltline of the captain's armor. "I'd wager this opens up that door."
As Ralof predicted, the key did open the locked door that kept then trapped. "Good thing I didn't take you up on that," Soll observed as they continued further into the keep. As they walked down a staircase that took them deep underground, a roar shook the ground.
The hallway in front of them collapsed in on itself, blocking off the hallway. Fortunately for them, there was a room they could in through. Soll opened the door, seeing two Imperials wearing the leather variant of the Legion's armor.
Soll put a finger to his lips, and Ralof seemed to get the message. The two crouched low to the ground, making their approach. Since they were both packing rather light, sneaking up on them was rather easy. They attacked as one, and the Imperials didn't last long.
With the short fight over, the two of them could look around with no issue. This was definitely a storage room. Potions lined the shelves in the corner, with barrels lining the walls. "Take whatever you want," Ralof said, "Just hurry."
Soll grabbed the red potion bottles, because he recognized those from when his mother had gotten sick. They were meant to heal you, and, as he and his father had found out later, that didn't extend to whatever his mother had gotten sick with.
"Smart. Those could come in handy if we want to get out of here alive," Ralof commented. Soll nodded, opening the door out, which was thankfully on the other side of the collapsed hallway.
"Come on, let's go," Soll said. They had no time to waste, not with that dragon still tearing apart Helgen above.
Ralof and Soll rushed down the hallway, though both stopped in their tracks when they reached a second staircase. "By the Nine..." Ralof muttered in shock.
It was a torture chamber. For the first time in his life, Soll was exposed to the horror of what the Empire did in the shadows, and he was disgusted. He began to look at the rebellion in a new light. Maybe their desire of secession was justified after all.
The sound of a battle cry snapped Soll back to reality. Ralof had realized what was happening sooner, already battling an Imperial mage and his assistant, aided by two other Stormcloaks.
Soll entered the fray, drawing his sword and stabbing the unaware mage in his back. He fell to the ground, letting out a groan of pain as the life left his eyes. Soll only felt as if justice had been served.
The others made quick work of the assistant, marking the end of the battle. "Really glad I took my ma's blade with me," Soll said to no one in particular.
"Glad to see some friendly faces," the female rebel said, heaving a sigh of relief as she sheathed her massive axe onto her back. "There's too many damn Imperials."
"Tell me about it," Ralof said. "Have you seen Jarl Ulfric since all of this started?" The rebel shook her head.
"I was hoping you'd seen him."
Ralof shook his head, looking around. His gaze shifted to the cages, two of which were empty, but in one, there was the skeleton of a mage. "Poor bastard. Never trusted those mages or their College, but no one deservers this," Ralof said.
Soll nodded. While he wasn't necessarily distrustful of magic users, he still didn't like then all that much. Still, torture was an evil Soll couldn't believe anyone would stoop to.
There was a sick feeling in his stomach as both he and his three rebel allies traversed through the lower levels of the keep. Soll did his best to ignore it, but it made what came next far easier than it otherwise would've been.
See, there was a patrol in the cavern that the lower level led in to.
Soll didn't even think, he just flew into the heat of battle, his rage at the torture chamber being unleashed onto the Imperials who made the mistake of standing in his way.
He became a blur, cutting through his foes in a whirlwind of cuts, slices, and stabs. His allies took care of the Imperials not standing directly in Soll's way.
He managed to clear the area out in only two minutes, leaving the rebels stunned. "You truly have the spirit of a true warrior," Ralof said, grinning as he stared at Soll.
"My Ma did teach me a lot," Soll admitted, his rage retreating quickly at the end of the battle. "Come on, we have to get out of here."
The rebels they had met decided to stay behind to wait for their leader, but Soll and Ralof kept moving further and further into the cavern.
"I really hope we're getting to the end," Soll said as they came upon a raised bridge. Fortunately for them, the lever to lower it was right in front of them.
Ralof pushed the lever as he said, "You and me both. Gods, I hope there's none of those dammed spiders past here. Too many eyes, you know?"
"I know the feeling," Soll said as they walked across the bridge. As soon as they had crossed, a mighty roar shook the cavern, causing boulders to fall onto the bridge, separating the two of them from the other rebels. If they wanted out, they'd need to go face that dragon outside.
Ralof was probably regretting that he said anything about the spiders, because there were large masses of cobwebs further in. "Great," Ralof groaned as they continued their push to freedom.
The vast cavern narrowed on the other end, barely having enough room for then to walk through, but they continued to walk forward. Soll felt a shiver go down his spine as they looked upon the next area of the cave.
It was a spider nest.
"Shit," both Soll and Ralof managed. They shared a look, and then pressed onwards.
The spiders could somehow sense they had entered, descending from the ceiling of the cave and hissing at them. One spat their venom at Ralof, who managed to avoid it by mere inches.
Ralof slammed his axe into a spider, killing it with a sickening squishing sound. Soll cut into another, its disgustingly green blood spewing forth. Soll stabbed it, ending the life of the massive insect.
The spiders didn't last long at all, but it was a very disturbing brawl. He was very glad to walk away from the dozen dead spiders, and Soll had a feeling that Ralof was too.
Fortunately, the next part of the cave they walked into was far more open. Light poured into the cave from an opening in the ceiling, one that allowed the two of them to see the bear that was resting in the light of the rays.
"Hold it!" Ralof whispered, getting down low to the ground. "Let's just sneak around her, I really don't feel like fighting a bear after all of this."
"I couldn't agree more," Soll said, beginning the walk over to the other side of the cave. Hopefully this was the end of this awful trek.
Fortunately, they both managed to get by the bear without waking it up. At the end of this cave, it narrowed once more. Soll eagerly walked into the natural corridor, noticing that light was progressively growing brighter.
"I think this is it," Soll said, to which Ralof nodded. The two marched onwards towards the light, which did lead to the outside world.
Soll walked outside, taking in the scene. It was the middle of the afternoon, the sun on the other side of the Throat of the World at this point. In spite of the attack unfurling at Helgen, the rest of Skyrim seemed peaceful at the moment.
At that moment, a roar made Soll's ears feel like they would burst. A large shadow covered where they stood, the ground shaking as the dragon flapped its wings. It flew away, heading towards the Whiterun area.
"Looks like its gone for good this time," Ralof said, breathing a heavy sigh of relief.
Soll nodded, staring at the dragon as it flew away. He felt rocked to the core, shaking in fear as one last scream came from Helgen. With that, the town fell silent.
Permanently.